Internet Tutorials Can Only Do So Much. In Raleigh, Some Millennials Turn To “SkillPop”

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WWR Article Summary (tl;dr)While living in Charlotte, North Carolina State University graduate Haley Bohon founded “SkillPop” when she saw a trend she thought she could turn into a business.”SkillPop” typically has three to five “pop-up” classes a week with 15 to 25 students in each. Classes cover subjects from making bread to buying your first house.

The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)

Twelve women and three men watch as cooking instructor Pam Clark dumps semolina flour, oil and water into a food processor.

Sitting at sturdy wooden tables and around the kitchen counter in the Loading Dock, a Raleigh co-working space, the students listen as Clark warns against making the pasta dough too dry.

Clark taught Monday night pasta-making class through a two-year-old company called SkillPop. The company started in Charlotte in 2015, launched in Raleigh in August 2016 and typically has three to five “pop-up” classes a week with 15 to 25 students in each.

SkillPop classes cover subjects from making bread to buying your first house, and prices run from $20 to $45. While living in Charlotte, North Carolina State University graduate Haley Bohon founded SkillPop when she saw a trend she thought she could turn into a business.

“In Charlotte, there were a lot of in-person meetups for fitness and business,” Bohon said. “That signaled to me a craving for in-person connection, to do something after work that’s out of your routine. … I thought there should be a way to take classes easily without spending tons and tons of money and signing up for multi-week courses.”

Most of SkillPop Raleigh’s classes are at the Loading Dock, which is just north of downtown off of Capital Boulevard, The Nest co-working space in downtown Raleigh and downtown Cary’s The Mayton Inn. Students tend to be in their 20s and 30s, said Audrey Henderson, who’s in charge of Raleigh SkillPop.